Sunday, April 12, 2015

Like most families, we are in the 4th Quarter crazy zone! There are 5 weeks left in the school year paired with Spring sports. We are on the run every day except Sunday. Our dinners are reduced to sandwiches, pizzas and the like so on on Sunday, I try to make something a little more substantial. Today's menu was all my youngest son's favorites, pork, green beans and corn on the cob! I haven't blogged in so long, I didn't take the usual step by step pictures, but the recipes are super simple so I don't think the pictures are necessary. I used all reduced sodium items in the recipe to keep it from getting too salty.

Roast Pork with Onion Jam:

3 lb pork loin

1½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp kosher salt

½ tsp dried oregano

½ tsp dried parsley

½ tsp black pepper

2 tbsp peanut oil

1 medium onion cut into 8 sections

2 cups reduced sodium chicken broth

2 tbsp lemon juice

2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350*F. In a small bowl, combine garlic powder, ground ginger, salt, thyme, and pepper, whisking to combine. Rub seasoning all over the entire surface of pork loin.

Heat oil in a large oven proof pot over a medium-hot burner. Add onion to hot oil and cook 2-3 minutes until they start to soften. Place the seasoned pork int the pot and brown it on all sides. Mix the broth, lemon juice and soy sauce together and pour into the pot with the pork and onions. Place pot in oven and cook for 3.5 hours. Remove pot from oven and place roast on board to rest for 20 minutes under a foil tent. Remove the onions and reduced liquid to a measuring cup and allow it to rest also. After 10 minutes, skim the fat off the measuring cup and remove. Place what remains in the measuring cup into a small oven proof ramiken and place back in the oven for 5-10 minutes. Remove and serve over the pork roast.

Bacon Wrapped Green Beans:

1 pound fresh green beans

8 slices of bacon

4 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 tsp garlic powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray a baking dish with non-stick spray. Wash, dry and pinch the ends off the green beans. Bundle together 10 green beans. Wrap a slice of bacon around the center of the beans to hold it together. Lay the bundle bacon seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat with remaining beans. Heat a small saucepan over low heat. Add the remaining ingredients and whisk until melted and combined. Brush the mixture over top of each green bean bundle. Cover the bundles with foil and bake for 35 minutes. Turn up the oven heat to 400*F. Remove the foil and bake for 10-15 minutes more or until bacon gets crispy. After removing from oven, let rest for 2-3 minutes before serving.